North Dakota State‘s football program moving up to the FBS can’t overshadow the rest of the school’s athletics too much.
The Bison recently won its fourth Commissioners Cup for athletics in the Summit League. NDSU won with 87 points in all sports for men and women, and the Bison surpassed South Dakota State’s 81.5 points and South Dakota’s 80.5 mark.
While almost all of NDSU’s sports compete in the Summit League, the football team competed in the Missouri Valley Football Conference before the FBS move. NDSU’s wrestling team competed in the Big 12 before a recent move to the Pac-12.
“The Cup is given annually to the member institution that collects the most combined points in relationship to its placement in the regular season standings for men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s tennis, softball and baseball and its championship placement in men’s and women’s cross country, swimming and diving, indoor track & field, outdoor track & field, and golf,” NDSU’s statement read.
NDSU won the Summit League regular season titles for men’s and women’s basketball, and the Bison also won the track and field titles for both men and women. The Bison men’s golf team likewise won the conference title, which NDSU football head coach Tim Polasek gave a special shout out on social media.
NDSU’s Dominance of the Valley
The Bison dominating the Missouri Valley as the premiere FCS program from 2011 to 2025 played a major role in the program’s move up.
NDSU won the conference 12 times during that 15-year span, and it’s a conference that’s considered the SEC of the FCS. The Missouri Valley regularly sends multiple teams to the FCS playoffs, and three other teams besides the Bison have made the national title game during the NDSU dynasty.
South Dakota State made the FCS championship game in 2021 but lost, and the Jackrabbits then beat the Bison in 2022 and Montana in 2023 for back-to-back titles. NDSU unseated the Jackrabbits in 2024 to win one last FCS title for 10 in a 15-year span.
Illinois State and Youngstown State have both reached the FCS championship game in the past decade, and Youngstown State was once a perennial power. Likewise, for former FCS titan Northern Iowa, which fell on hard times since NDSU took over the Missouri Valley.
NDSU isn’t the only Missouri Valley team to move up to the FBS in recent years. Missouri State did it last season, and the Bears went 7-6 overall and 5-3 in Conference USA with a bowl game appearance.
Air Force the Biggest Mountain West Game, Analyst Says
NDSU kicks off Mountain West Conference play on Sept. 12 at Air Force in the program’s first year in the league.
College football analyst Pete Fiutak of College Football News calls it the biggest game for the Bison. Indeed, it sets the tone for the Bison in conference play, as three more big road games will await in Hawaii, UNLV and New Mexico.
“What’s the first thing you do if you’re a superpower FCS program trying to prove you belong? You pull off something big right away to show that nothing stops,” Fiutak wrote.
“It’s the first Bison road game of the season, and it’s also the Mountain West opener,” Fiutak added. “The conference away dates don’t get any easier – going to UNLV, New Mexico, and Hawaii next – so they have to steal one early.”
Fiutak predicts the Bison will go 8-4 in the program’s first FBS season.
North Dakota State Receives Big Non-Football Award